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WCTA, CGSA urge PMRA to re-register quintozene for turf use

CONTINUED use of the fungicide quintozene on turfgrass may be in
jeopardy if the Canadian Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA)
follows through on its proposal to remove all turf uses from its label.

The PMRA is re-evaluating quintozene (PCNB) and has based its proposal
on the Environmental Protection Agency of the United States’
re-evaluation document (RED) from 2006.

All comments from the public will be considered by the PRMA before it renders its final re-evaluation decision. The agency will then publish a Re-evaluation Decision 2 which will include its decision, the reasons for it, a summary of comments received on the proposed decision, and the PMRA’s response to those comments.

Various allied associations, including the Canadian Golf Superintendents Association and the Western Canada Turfgrass Association, have urged the PMRA to re-register quintozene for turf uses, especially on golf course greens and tees.

The WCTA-coordinated Turf Industry Steering Committee (TISC) recently conducted a conference call with the PMRA to not only introduce the newly-formed committee, but to learn from PMRA staff about alternatives to the fungicide.

Arguments by TISC members in favour of quintozene included the fungicide’s ability to be applied in rain vs. that of alternative products, the fact that a greater volume of alternative products would be needed to achieve the same level of control quintozene would provide, and the higher cost of alternative products.

In a follow-up letter to the PMRA, WCTA executive director Jerry Rousseau noted the U.S. EPA re-registered quintozene for use on golf course turf, albeit with some restrictions. The EPA amended its re-evaluation document earlier this year.

Rousseau informed WCTA members in a mass email that unless the PMRA decision is amended, quintozene will soon become unavailable for turfgrass use in Canada. If that should happen, he said, the next step will be mitigating a phase-out period for the product which likely will be prolonged by registration requests of new active ingredients.

TISC has been asked to comment on a long list of active ingredients that are either:
• already registered for turf in Canada but require label validation
• already registered in Canada but would require “user requested minor use label expansion” for specific sites
• registered for the same pests as quintozene in other countries but not yet registered in Canada (category A).